Job Title: Executive Assistant

Section: School of Social Sciences

Grade/Salary Range: Grade 5 - £24,715 - £28,131

Working Hours: 9am : 5pm (one hour for lunch)

Heriot-Watt University has established a reputation for world-class teaching and leading-edge, relevant research, which has made it one of the top UK universities for innovation, business and industry.

Heriot-Watt University has five campuses: three in the UK (Edinburgh, Scottish Borders and Orkney), one in Dubai and one in Malaysia. The University offers a highly distinctive range of degree programmes in the specialist areas of science, engineering, design, business and languages. Heriot-Watt is also Scotland's most international university, boasting the largest international student cohort.

The School is looking to appoint an enthusiastic person to undertake the role of Executive Assistant in our busy School Executive Support Office. As part of the Executive Support Office team, this role is designed to provide executive support to Senior Academic Leaders and the wider School Leadership Team. The role holder will act as Executive Assistant to the Executive Dean of the School and a small number of senior staff, developing high-quality relationships to allow for the School, and staff, to function effectively in role. The role will provide a range of key duties, including diary management, general administration and operational support for the management of logistics including travel and in-country activities.

The role of the Executive Assistant to the Executive Dean is critical and complex, supporting the leadership team in their multi-faceted positions, and coordinating administrative and operational duties at the School level. You will be supporting the day-to-day operational running of the School Executive Support Office, providing an excellent standard of administrative support and act as the main interface between the leadership team and the wider university and the Departments respectively.

Main purpose of the job

• To provide executive support daily to the Executive Dean
• Providing executive support to senior roles in the School Leadership Team as required.
• Co-ordinating high-level events and meetings.
• Assisting with report and presentation production.
• Taking and preparing minutes.
• Undertaking specialist analytical tasks.
• Interacting daily with senior staff on operational issues.
• Maintaining a professional approach always.
• Manage, and be the key point of contact for recruitment activities within the departments they support.
• Member of a small team of dedicated to providing Executive level support.
• Report to the Executive Dean of the School.
• To work collaboratively.
• Provide cover to other Executive Support Office roles when necessary.
• Exercise independent judgement in a variety of situations understanding when escalation or referral is appropriate.
• Work with the Director(s) supported and other colleagues within the department(s) supported (such as Group Managers and Heads of Groups) to maximise the benefits of having an Executive Assistant.

All the support services within the School are committed to delivering a customer focused service to students, staff and visitors. To achieve this commitment all support staff need to be adaptable and prepared to support other teams and individuals within the School.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

Diary Management

• Manage and maintain the Executive Dean's complex diary and email account.
• Ensure diary commitments, papers, and arrangements are managed effectively.
• Liaise with other Senior Academic Leaders and members of the Executive Support Office team as well as key contacts across the University and externally to organise meetings as required.
• Ensure priorities and key issues within the Schools departments are understood in order to effectively categorise and prioritise meetings and events.
• Help assist with meetings and the diary management of key senior managers, group managers and heads of groups reporting to the Executive Dean of the School (as required).
• Co-ordinate and negotiate conflicting demands in order to schedule priority meetings in the Executive Dean's diary.

Correspondence Management

• Draft and respond to emails where appropriate in accordance with Executive Dean's needs and escalate as appropriate.
• Identify messages that need to be cascaded to group managers or line managers within the department(s) supported.
• Filter general information, queries, phone calls and invitations to the Executive Dean by redirecting or taking forward such contacts as appropriate.
• Filter emails, responding where appropriate, and highlight urgent correspondence for review by the Executive Dean.
• Prepare correspondence on behalf of the Executive Dean including the drafting of general replies.
• Proofread correspondence and documents as required.

Organisation Documentation and Reporting

• Collate and print presentations, meeting papers, briefings for the Executive Dean ahead of meetings, scheduling time for their review, to ensure they are prepared.
• Update board papers and other correspondence to a good draft standard for the Executive Dean to finalise.
• Liaise with the Departmental Heads to request forecasting reports.
• Monitor expenditure and budget forecasting, raising potential overspends to the Executive Dean.

Event Management

• Organise events, departmental away days, departmental and/or group events.
• Manage attendance, agenda preparation, meeting logistics including catering and notes/minutes where required.
• Book venues, coordinate invitations and check facilities are set-up.

Travel Management

• Make travel arrangements for the Executive Dean and other Senior Academic Leaders as required including booking transport (train, air etc.) and accommodation.

General Administration

• Be the first point of contact within the School for the Executive Support Office.
• Liaise with all relevant local support services and University support services to action requests for the Executive Dean and School's Senior Leadership Team.
• Deal with general enquires to the School Executive Support Office from other members of the University.
• Perform filing and other data management tasks for the School's Executive Support Office.
• Undertake meeting organisation and administration as required.
• Schedule, on behalf of the Executive Dean, one-to-ones with direct reports and other regular meetings as agreed.
• Maintain schedules of appraisals, probation, contract end dates, etc. and co-ordinate appraisals, probation and formal staff review meetings for the Executive Dean and other Senior Academic line managers, updating outcomes as appropriate.
• Act as the Committee Administrator and in other meetings when required.
• Provide full secretariat support including coordinating the agenda, booking logistics, taking minutes and recording actions, decisions and attendance.
• Manage confidential information as required.
• Schedule all School meetings and other large meetings or regularly scheduled meetings in the School or departments as required.
• Provide full secretariat support, for semi-formal meetings (i.e. meetings with Departmental Managers or Governance meetings with customers) including coordinating the agenda, booking logistics, taking minutes and recording decisions, actions and attendance.
• Contribute to, and support, Professional Services Operations as required.
• Provide cover for other members of the School Executive Support team as required.
• Contribute to Executive Assistant Team forums and meetings across the University and provide input on continuous service improvement for Executive Assistant Team's services.
• Work as a positive team member and share knowledge and expertise.
• Identify and report to the Executive Dean on EA service issues and recommend solutions.

Please note that this job description is not exhaustive, and the post holder may be required to undertake other relevant duties commensurate with the grading of the post. Activities may be subject to amendment over time as the role develops and/or priorities and requirements evolve.

Person Specification

Essential

• Good general education to Scottish Higher level or equivalent
• Recent experience of working in an Executive Assistant, or comparable role, in an organisation of comparable scale and complexity
• Evidence of a strongly developed awareness of customer service.
• Experience of servicing high-level committee meetings and formal minute taking
• Demonstrable experience of working unsupervised with excellent planning and organisational abilities; ability to plan and prioritise own workload
• Experience of developing and reviewing administrative processes and systems
• Track record of successfully handling a demanding workload
• Excellent verbal and written communication and interpersonal skills, with tact, diplomacy and sensitivity across a wide range of people at all levels in and outside the University
• Good organisational and time management skills, with the ability to prioritise a diverse and changing workload
• Highly proficient in the use of Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook
• Ability to manage multiple busy diaries at the same time

Desirable

• Relevant experience of administration, preferably in a higher education environment
• Previous experience of working to corporate policies and procedures
• Interaction with external visitors and VIPs
• Experience using an online Travel Management system, and other University Internal Systems
• Competent in the use of SharePoint & PowerPoint
  

How to Apply

Applications can be submitted up to23:59 (UK time) on 17th May 2023. Applications should be submitted including your CV to evidence how you meet the essential and desirable criteria.

For an informal discussion on this post please contact Dr. Darren Cunningham (Head of Operations) by email D.P.Cunningham@hw.ac.uk

Heriot-Watt University is committed to securing equality of opportunity in employment and to the creation of an environment in which individuals are selected, trained, promoted, appraised and otherwise treated on the sole basis of their relevant merits and abilities. Equality and diversity are all about maximising potential and creating a culture of inclusion for all.

Heriot-Watt University values diversity across our University community and welcomes applications from all sectors of society, particularly from underrepresented groups. For more information, please see our website https://www.hw.ac.uk/uk/services/equality-diversity.htm and also our award-winning work in Disability Inclusive Science Careers https://disc.hw.ac.uk/ .

We welcome and will consider flexible working patterns e.g. part-time working and job share options.

Use our total rewards calculator: https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/total-rewards-calculator.htm to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University.